ECU, HHP hosting panel on film and disabilities

The power of words is a theme for a March 11 viewing and panel discussion about “The R-Word,” a film that dives into the history and implications of words, and current attitudes and perceptions about people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Those topics and others will be discussed when the College of Health and Human Performance at East Carolina University hosts a free viewing opportunity of “The R-Word” film and subsequent discussions March 11 at the Black Box Theater in the ECU Main Campus Student Center.

• What: “The R-Word” film screening and panel discussion.
• Date: Monday, March 11.
• Where: Black Box Theater in the ECU Main Campus Student Center.
• When: Doors open at 5:30 p.m.; Screening 6 p.m.; Panel discussion 7:15 p.m.
• Hosts: The College of Health and Human Performance, the Department of Recreation Sciences and the Design for Disability Initiative.
• Virtual screening: Meeting link – https://ecu.webex.com/ecu/j.php?MTID=m73034a71b686ce607542e1230855450c Meeting number: 2630 511 8765
  Password: epD3yqmGp63 (37339764 from phones).

“The R-Word” official website describes the film, directed by Amanda Lukoff, as a purposeful look into the long-reaching history and lasting implications of the word retard(ed) and current attitudes and perceptions about people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Personal narratives and sibling stories help provide an intimate and nuanced perspective of the challenges and triumphs of people living with an intellectual disability.

“The main message I would like to emphasize from the film is that the words we use to describe and talk about people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities has a huge impact on subsequent perceptions, behaviors and actions,” said Dr. Lindsey Oakes, assistant professor in the ECU Department of Recreation Sciences. “We should always strive to remember that we are all people first, regardless of diagnoses or disabilities. See and get to know the person first. You will see that we are all much more alike than we are different.”

Groups scheduled to attend and have information tables: Awaken Coffee, Autism Society of North Carolina, Design for Disability – Hildreth family, recreational therapy program and the Department of Recreation Sciences at ECU, Pirates for Down Syndrome, Aces for Autism, ECU’s DanceAbility group, Isabella Williams from Special Olympics NC for their Spread the Word to End the Word campaign; Trillium, Pitt Community College’s Career Academy and Rocking Horse Ranch.

Oakes will moderate the panel discussion. Confirmed panelists: Terri Joyner, parent advocate; Lyndsey Joyner, sibling advocate and special education teacher; Jennifer Dyson, community advocate and general manager/co-founder of Awaken Coffee; Olivia Murray, self-advocate with Intellectual or developmental disability; T-why Craig, self-advocate with IDD.

“The panel discussion will bring all of the great messages from the film about people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities and the importance of language to life with a local context,” Oakes said. “I am looking forward to facilitating a discussion between the panelists, who are strong local self-advocates and advocates, and the audience.”